devil's part, in loathing that part of the gofpel of Chrift, which above all other fcriptures, doth exprefs the admirable union of the Godhead, and manhood, in one Chrift and Saviour, which union is the arch pillar of man's falvation: Wherefore, look to thyself, for now thou art to be put upon trial, and mark diligently whether it be the fame fcripture which fhall be read unto thee out of the Greek Teftament, at the reading whereof in the English tongue thou doft seem to be fo much troubled and tormented."

Then the bishop read to him the 12th instead of the 1ft verfe of the It chapter of St. John, which the pretended demoniac, fuppofing to be the first verfe, as ufual, fell into a fit, which being foon over, the bishop then read to him the real firft verfe in Greek; but he fuppofing this was fome other text, fhewed no fort of emotion at this reading.

impofture could be fufficiently made out to quiet the minds of the divided people. But, by diligence and narrow watching, it was on the third day difcovered, that he made black water by the help of an inkhorn, which ftood in one corner of the room; and being taken in the fact, he confeffed, and related the manner of his impofing fo many ways upon the public.

Here the bishop would have refted the detection of the impofture, and the youngster feemed greatly confounded at his own miftake; but recovering himself, and refuming various emotions and poftures, he excufed himfelf to the company by pretending he was difturbed at the fight of two mice; complained of great fickness; and in order to get home to his father's houfe, he would anfwer no more questions; bat by writing as well as he could, fignified that he was troubled with a violent pain in his belly. To confirm his complaint, he next day contrived to make water as black as ink, and continued fo to do for two days, with tokens of great pain. A circumftance which alarmed the bishop greatly, and had well nigh obtained his difmiffion, before the

An account of the family at Wattisham, which has lately been afflicted with the lofs of their limbs; published by Dr. Wollafton, of Bury in Suffolk.

JOH

JOHN DOWNING, a poor la bouring man, living at Wattifham, in January laft, had a wife and fix children; the eldest, a girl 15 years of age, the youngeft about four months.-They were all at that time very healthy, and had not any of them been ill for fome time before.-On Sunday, the 10th of January 1762, the eldest girl complained, in the morning, of a pain in her left leg, particularly in the calf of the leg. Towards evening the pain grew exceedingly violent. The fame evening another girl complained of the fame violent pain in the fame leg.-On the Monday, the mother, and another child; and on Tuesday all the rest of the family were affected in the fame manner; fome in one leg, fome in both legs.-The little infant was taken from the mother's breast: it feemed to be in pain, but the limbs did not mortify; it lived a few weeks. The mother, and the other five children, continued in violent pain a confiderable time: In about four, five, or fix days, the

The amputation was accordingly performed, in the ufual place below the knee: but when the tournequet was flackened, there was no efflux of blood, from the divided arteries, nor the leaft pulfation to be perceived, any of their extremities. By what the patient feemed to fuffer in the operation, there was no apparent diminution of fenfibihity. The effufion of blood, which followed the incifion through the fkin and flesh, was very fmall, and feemed to be no other than the recurrent blood, from the crural, and other veins. It appeared blackish, as if it had ftagnated fome time; and much refembled that which is found in the veins of a dead body. Sponges, dipt in warm water, were applied to the ftump, for the space of ten or fifteen minutes, the tournequet being ftill loofe; whilst thofe who were prefent at the operation, were attonithed that no hæmorrhage followed. After attending fo long, and no fign of bleeding being obferved, the ftump was dreffed, without any ligatures made on the arteries, with compreffes dipt in warm oil of turpentine, and laid on the extremities of the arteries. Thefe, with the other dreffings, were fecured by an eafy bandage; and the tournequet remained loofe, left a new accef

tient, found the pulfe mach raised? and no appearance of the livid colour on the arm remaining; nor were the dreffings difcoloured with any blood. I ordered the tournequet to be kept loose on the thigh, an opiate to be given, and the bark to be prepared again for him. On the fourth day after the operation, I renewed the dreffings, and perceived not the leaft appearance of blood: and inftead of feeing a gangrened Rump, unexpectedly a good digeftion prefented itself round the edges thereof, without much inflammation, hardness, or other bad fymptom. He was dreffed every day after; the digeftion increased; and the delirium of the fever, which had ftill remained, foon went off. Thus. in the ordinary time, the part was healed, and the health of the patient perfe&ly recovered. From this account, truely ftated, we find there was a feparation of the mortification above the ancle, and a good digeftion upon the live part; and though, upon amputating the limb, at the ufual place below the knee, there was not the leaft appearance of blood, or pulfation, at the divided arteries; yet a digeftion appeared upon the ftump, on the fourth day after the operation.

fion of fever fhould bring on the apprehended hæmorrhage. The integuments, mufcles, and bones of this part, appeared to be in a natural and vivid ftate; but the arm, on the fame fide, had fuch an uncommon blackish hue, as feemed to threaten a total gangrene, though the radical artery enjoyed a good pulfation.

In the evening Lvikted my pa

Ar account of a conception without

the rupture of the Hymen. From the Momoirs of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris, for the year 1756.

IN

the month of March 1756, an unmarried woman, aged 30, died at Lille, of the confequences of a fixed pain in the left iliac region. Her body being opened by M. Varocquier,

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rocquier, profeffor of anatomy at that place, in the prefence of two furgeons, the left ovarium was obferved to be as big as a hen's egg; and being opened there flowed from it about a ounce of a lymphatic liquor like whey, and there was found in it a fœtus a little decayed. It was of the length of two inches from the crown of the head to the knees. The uterus and the oppofite ovarium were in their natural itate: but what is extraordinary in this fubject, in which M. Varocquier found a foetus, the hymen was quite entire. That which is reckoned an infallible proof of vir ginity is therefore but an equivocal mark.

An account of a remarkable Mummy. From the Memoirs of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris, for the year 1756.

OM E peasants being at work in a field belonging to the village of Matres-d'Artieres, near Riom in Auvergne, found a kind of trough, feven feet long, three broad, and eight inches in depth, cut out of a ftone which feemed to be a granite, and covered with another stone of the fame kind. In this trough was a leaden ccffin, which contained the body of a lad about twelve or thirteen, fo well embalmed, that the Alefh was ftill flexible and fupple. The arms were covered with bands twifled round them from the writ to the top of the fhoulders, and the Jegs in the fame manner from the ancles to the top of the thighs: a kind of fhirt covered the breaft and belly, and over all was a windingfheet. All these linens were im

bibed with a balm of fuch a strong smell, that the ftone trough retained it, and communicated it to those who came near it, long after the coffin was taken out of it. This mummy was carried firft to the curate's of the parish: it had at that time on its head a wooden cup, lined with an aromatic paste, which had the fame fmell as the balm in which the linen had been dipped. It had alfo in its hands balls of the fame pafte, which were kept on by little bags, which covered the hands and were tied at the wrifts; and the arms, thighs, and legs were covered with fome of the fame pafte. But being removed foon after to Riom, by order of the intendant of that place, all the coverings were taken away; and the colour of the skin, which was at firft very clear, changed ployed in embalming had very to a dark-brown. The drug em

1

much diminished the bulk of the fleshy parts; but had preferved their fuppleneis fo well, that a furgeon making an incifion in the flomach, one of the by-ftanders put in his finger and could feel the diaphragm, the great lobe of the spleen, and the liver; but thefe two laft had loft much of their bulk. A part of the epiploon, about three inches in length, being extracted at this opening, was found to be quite found, and as flexible as in its natural ftate. About twelve inches of the jejunum being likewife extracted, and tied at one end, it was inflated by blowing in it, as readily as if it had been that of an animal juft killed. In fhort, the body feemed to be embalmed in a quite different manner from that of the Egyptians, whofe mummies are dry and brittle.

No

ABOUT forty-three years ago,

a

woman was

in

a

at berg, ir, a wooden coffin painted black, according to the custom of the country. The earth, wherein her body was depofited, was dry and yellow, as it is for the most part the environs of that city. Of three bodies, buried in the fame grave, this woman's was laid the deepest in the ground; and, there being an occafion to make room for a fourth body, the grave was dug up anew; but, to the great furprife of the digger, when he had removed the two uppermoft coffins, he perceived confiderable quantity of hair that had made its way through the flits and crevices of the coffin. The lid being taken off, there appeared a perfect resemblance of the human figure, the eyes, nofe, mouth, ears, and all other parts, being very diftinct; but from the crown of the head to the foles of the feet, it was covered with very long, thick, and frizzled hair. The grave-digger, after examining it for fome time, happened to touch the upper part of the head; but was more furprifed than before, on feeing the intire body shrink, and nothing at last re

main in his hand, but a bundle of rough hair, which infenfibly affumed a brownish-red colour.

The learned Honoratus Fabri, Lib. 3. de Plantis, and feveral other authors, are of opinion, that hair, wool, feathers, nails, horns, teeth, &c. are nothing but vegetables. If it be fo, we need not be surprised to fee them grow on the bodies of animals, even after their death, as has been frequently obferved. Petrus Borellus, Hift. & Obf. Med. Cent. I. Obf. 10. pretends, that thefe productions may be tranfplanted as vegetables, and may grow in a different place from that where they first germinat

ed. He alfo relates, in of his obfervations on this fubject, among others, that of a tooth drawn out and tranfplanted, which may ap pear pretty fingular.

Though the external furface of bodies is the ufual place for the growth of hair, it has, notwithftanding, been fometimes found on the tongue, in the interior of the heart, and on its furface; in the breasts and kidnies; and in other glandular and muscular parts: but there is no internal part where it is oftener found than in the ovarium of females. This has been obferv. ed in three different fubjects by Dr. Tyfon, as we find it related in the Philofophical Collections of Mr. Hooke; who alfo tells us, on the teftimony of Mr. Arnold, that a man, hanged at Tyburn for theft, was found, in a very short time after he was taken away from the gallows, covered over in a very extraordinary manner with hair.

Obfervations on the Hair of dead

Perfons; being an Extract of a Letter from Bartholine to Sachsin,

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